Dems celebrate West, Ryan foes

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Patrick Murphy showed up here this week as just another obscure conventioneer few could pick out of a lineup. Then union boss Richard Trumka introduced Murphy, a 29-year-old accountant, as the man challenging Rep. Allen West to a room of labor activists.

“The crowd went wild,” Trumka said in an interview.

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It’s been that kind of week for the folks taking on the party’s top villains in Congress, the Republicans the Democrats loathe the most.

Rob Zerban is practically an afterthought in Wisconsin as the guy with almost no chance of beating Rep. Paul Ryan. At the convention, demand for his time has been so high that a staffer traveling with him can barely keep up with all the requests for the businessman.

After he arrived in Charlotte on Monday, a group of liberal bloggers and activists invited Zerban, a Kenosha County supervisor, to share office space during his stay.

Tammy Duckworth is getting A-list treatment, too. Though better known than Murphy or Zerban — she’s an Iraq War veteran who lost both her legs in combat — it doesn’t hurt that Duckworth is the Democrat gunning for Rep. Joe Walsh. The smash-mouth Republican congressman was once quoted as saying Obama was elected “because he pushed that magical button: a black man who was articulate, liberal, the whole white guilt, all of that.”

For party activists, candidates like Murphy, Zerban and Duckworth have undeniable appeal: Two years after a tea party-led wave swept House Republicans into power, victories for any of them would provide some semblance of revenge.

Murphy and Duckworth, in particular, have won the hearts of Democrats nationwide. The candidates have emerged as two of the nation’s most prolific fundraisers. Zerban, a heavy underdog, has struggled to raise cash. But he said he’s seen an uptick in donations since Mitt Romney selected Ryan as his vice presidential candidate a month ago.

For Murphy, his week at the convention began with a dizzying series of lunches, briefings and get-togethers with activists.